Who's afraid of anemones?

[sawdavis]

I have a mixed reed with around 30 BTA'S and a magnifica.

Here's how I manage it:

- Almost all the BTA's are in an island.

- They normally like to have their foot hidden in a crevice, but when they are in colonies they are much more tolerant and rarely wander, even having the foot attached to a flat surface.

- They are right under a pump (a Jebao CP-150 with a max flow over 8500 gallons/hour). This means that if they let go, the flow will take them to the pump. They're not big, so if they get shreaded, it's no big deal. The pump has a very fine grill so it never managed to kill any anemone.

- I change carbon every couple of weeks. When they spawn I change it immediately.

- When a BTA moves into the coral areas, I try to remove it. If I can't remove it, I watch if it's hurting anything. If it is, I kill it.

- There are a few BTA'S in other areas where I can't remove them but they are not bothering anything. If they do, I kill them.

- The BTA'S are a safe haven for Banggai cardinals of all ages, including the parents. I have Banggai cardinals of all ages living there.

- The BTA's island has par ranging from 500 to 50. They look the same no matter what light they receive.

- The magnifica has proven to be even more sturdy than the BTA's, after being treated for an infection after I got it, 2 years ago.

- I treat the magnifica like she's Marilyn Monroe: I put her on a pedestal, blast her with light and blow her skirt up.

- She's sometimes moves one inch, mainly because the clowns bite her foot when preparing to spawn, but that's it.

- I positioned her in a way that she can't reach the glass. She would climb up immediately.

- Magnificas pack a strong sting and I wouldn't dare put any coral near.

- Banggai cardinals can adapt to their sting, but it's not easy. The largest Banggai kid lives there (he was sucked bynthe return pump and landed there) and the parents don't dare to bully him when he's in the magnifica.

Your tank is beautiful!!!

 

[Ardeus]

Thanks! The photo is a few months old, the tank is going to be 1 year old in a couple of weeks and I need to update it.

The photo is a still from this video, when the tank was 8 months old.


Another deceptively peaceful looking coral is the goniopora. I suspect at least some of them can handle the BTA's. I had to move the red goniopora down a bit because the purple one was launching long sweeper and was damaging it,

 

[AC1211]

Whats rfas to nems? Also what about duncans?

 

[Wolf89]

Whats rfas to nems? Also what about duncans?

I had a BTA murder my duncan overnight.

 

[AC1211]

I had a BTA murder my duncan overnight.

Well there we go thats an answer.

 

[Ardeus]

I have a stag acro keeping a duncan in check. Duncans look more aggressive than they are.

 

[ramona]

What about leathers and naptheas? Could they coexist with RBTAs? Gorgonians?

 

[Ardeus]

Bta's burn leathers. I don't know about all gorgonians, but bta's burn mine.

 

[bigcheese]

Hydnophora vs. BTA? Hydno wins handily. It's not a coexistence thing, either... the hydno tried to eat it like every mushroom that grows too close.

Oddly enough, I do have a BTA touching a pink digi with no ill effects on either side.

 

[laverda]

I have about 30 BTAs in 3 different strains. I am not afraid of them.

 

[DonTavo27]

I had a bta park it self on the side of one of Clams. It stayed on the clam for months, until I sold them as a pair.

 

[dbaussiereef]

How often do Nems actually move and are some types more active than others ? I would love a crispa in my tank for clowns to host.

 

[Krully]

Someone just told me that pavona also keeps bta's in check.

Mine did not. It took weeks but tissue started receding from touching the BTA.

 

[Rilo]

I have a small one in my tank. It's far enough from coral that it doesn't bother anyone. Anywhere I placed him as long as there was a crevice he'd stay in. Never had one wander.

 

[Peach02]

I'm more afraid of magnificas, they wonder around and don't hurt Initially when they sting you but a few minutes later when I got stung by one my arm looked like this for 6 weeks

 

[Cell]

Bta vs rfa was ok for a day or two then my rfas tentacles started shrinking up and bleaching where the bta was touching it. The rfa has slowly been moving away from the bta now.

 

[Jase4224]

I’m more afraid of bta’s splitting and taking over the tank. I’m also afraid of my fish being eaten as my tank has been fish only for such a long time.

Are there any strains that don’t tend to split? Do I need to worry about my fish?

 

[Ardeus]

The more expensive ones don't usually split much

Unless you get a carpet anemone (haddoni/gigantea), your fish are safe.

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

Everyone here is only talking about BTA. What about the others, like rock flower and tube anemones. I have those. I tried the BTA and it died two weeks after I bought it after traveling around the tank and never finding a spot it liked. It disappeared and I found it dead under a rock. So I have never bought another one. Besides, I don't want traveling stuff. I want it to stay put so I have Rock Flower and tube anemones, which stay put most of the time. I bought a fifth RFA which has been traveling but it is my only one. The tube anemone only traveled when it detached from his tube. I was able to cover his body with sand and he is fine now and stationary while working on creating another tube.

I keep all my tube nems in either PVC pipes or bottle (just make sure there is an opening at the end so they can grow) since I have a bare bottom. This way I can move them as needed as they grow. Their sting has killed a frogspawn, almost killed a BTA, and wiped out a large Hollywood stunner chalice...

 

[Jase4224]

The more expensive ones don't usually split much

Unless you get a carpet anemone (haddoni/gigantea), your fish are safe.

I had a highlighter green BTA with pink tips and a bright orange base for a few years back in my beginner days in the hobby. It never split and survived every mistake a noob could possibly make (until I hand it to a friend who bleached it). I think it ate one fish but the tank was small and the fish was probably sick or dead. It was a big nem probably 10” fully open. I would buy one but don’t want it to split or move around. Extremely hardy.

I also had a large yellow carpet in a much larger tank that did eat a couple of fish but again they were probably compromised to begin with. It hosted two maroon clowns for a few years and also very hardy. It tended to stay put. Personally I would keep these in a smaller tank especially for carpet nem display or an extra large tank with a dedicated area.

I really would love a highlighter green bta I’m just not sure if they are prone to splitting like the brown/reddish coloured strains.